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THE SKY COLLAPSES
Nu Wo and her children were happy, and they had no idea that a great calamity was soon to befall them. One year, the God of Fire and the God of Water met each other on the road. They had been enemies from time immemorial. They glared at each other.
“Get out of my way!” snarled the God of Water.
“YOU get out of MY way, or I’ll send you to visit your ancestors!” thundered the God of Fire.
Without another word, they began to fight. The God of Water summoned all the creatures of the waters to help him in the battle. At his call, crab, shrimp, turtle, and lobster generals led countless troops of fish and other creatures to do his bidding in wave after giant wave. The God of Fire was not to be outdone. He summoned the creatures of fire, awe-inspiring dragons, magnificent phoenixes, and ferocious centipedes. The God of Fire also had a magical golden fan. With one wave of the fan, he kindled tiny flames into gigantic walls of fire.
Although the fire creatures were outnumbered, the God of Fire eventually prevailed, thanks to the wondrous power of the magical fan. The water creatures could not stand the onslaught of his armies. Their moist skins got scorched, and many were boiled alive as the fire evaporated the waves of water. They retreated with great losses.
In tremendous frustration, the God of Water butted his head into one of the pillars that hold up the sky. Because of his stubborn nature, his head was harder than cast iron. The pillar broke, and a large portion of the sky came tumbling down. With it came a torrential flood as waters of the Celestial River came pouring out.
At the same time, the broken pieces of the sky rained down upon the earth as fiery meteorites. The meteorites set the woods everywhere on fire and cracked giant craters in the earth. From under the ground in one of the craters, an immense black dragon emerged and flew into the sky. It began to devour all the people it saw.
Everywhere people were dying. Some died in floods and some in fiery infernos. People also died of starvation as the crops were burned or flooded away, and the dragon devoured most of the others. The survivors all flocked to Nu Wo’s side, crying, “Mother! Mother! What are we going to do?”
Nu Wo’s grief was extreme when she saw the state that her children were in. She told them to dry their tears and be brave. “In these hard times, we must have the strength and courage to help ourselves.” She advised her children to put out the great fires that raged everywhere.
While they were doing this, Nu Wo went to visit the God of Fire. She said to him, “You and the God of Water are both mankind’s good friends. When you aren’t fighting with each other, all is well for man. However, when you fight, mankind suffers horribly. Just look at all the damage you’ve caused!” The God of Fire was ashamed of his behavior. Embarrassed, he lowered his head and agreed not to fight with the God of Water anymore.
Nu Wo next visited the God of Water and also berated him. The God of Water was also repentant. “I don’t even remember why we were mad at each other in the first place,” he admitted with chagrin. “But what can I do? The sky is already broken,” he shrugged noncommittally.
Nu Wo saw that neither god would help her repair the damage, but at least they agreed not to battle anymore. She returned to her children. Her first concern was to slay the ferocious black dragon. She armed herself and her children, and together they went to find the dragon. He was dozing at the foot of a mountain after a particularly satisfying day of hunting for humans. Leading the attack, Nu Wo charged at the dragon with her sword.
The dragon saw the angry mob advancing with Nu Wo in the lead, a determined frown on her face. Frightened, it turned tail to run, but it had eaten so many people that it was sluggish and could hardly move. Together, Nu Wo and her children slew the enormous beast. But still the waters from the Celestial River rained down upon the world unceasingly from the hole in the sky. There was no other solution than to mend the hole.
NU WO FIXES THE SKY
At first, Nu Wo tried to use clay to mend the hole, but it was unreliable when it dried. One little quake, and it would collapse again. Also, its muddy color made unsightly blotches against the beautiful blue background of the sky. Nu Wo tried to use wood logs next, but the water still leaked through the gaps between them. Then she attempted to nail brass plates over the holes. This method was also unstable and leaky, and the plates clanged deafeningly when the wind blew.
“How can I fix the sky so that it is as strong and beautiful as before the catastrophe?” she wondered. She wanted a substance that was strong enough to hold the Celestial River in and yet that matched the clear radiance of the rest of the sky.
Nu Wo thought and thought. Eventually, she decided to melt down five-colored stones and use the liquid ore to mend the sky. These stones were dazzlingly beautiful and sparkled red, yellow, blue, white, and black — the primary colors from which all other colors on earth are derived. They were rarer than the finest diamonds. Some were buried deep under the ground, some were located under the sea, and some were at the tops of high mountains.
Because men and women everywhere were busy trying to put out the raging fires, Nu Wo decided to mine for the precious five-colored stones by herself. She dug deep under the ground. After she had found all of the buried five-colored stones, she dived again and again to the bottom of the sea for them. Soon she had gathered all the five-colored stones that lay underwater. Next, Nu Wo climbed all the tall mountains she could find to search for the stones.
At last, after a thousand hardships and much suffering, Nu Wo found all the five-colored stones in the world. She transported them all to a rocky peninsula near the sea. Soon she had a huge pile. Then, she and her children went to harvest straw. They gathered many thousands of bundles and carried them to a depression in the rock near the pile of stones.
Nu Wo then lit the enormous pile of straw, and she and her children began shoveling the five-colored stones into this fiery furnace. They melted slowly into an opalescent liquid. The heat was so intense that Nu Wo told her children, “Step back! You’ll get burned if you stay too close. I will take care of everything.”
The children moved away and gathered on the shore nearby. Nu Wo then took a long-handled ladle and began applying the liquid ore to a small hole in the sky. After the liquid cooled, Nu Wo patted the mended spot. It was as sound and as lovely as the rest of the sky.
Nu Wo was overjoyed. “Look!” she cried to her children, “it worked!” The children clapped and shouted and danced. They were saved!
Nu Wo began to work in earnest and poured ladle after ladle of the liquid into the holes.
The heat made her sweat pour, and she was soon blinded by perspiration and soaked to the skin. The flames from the furnace seared her skin, and her throat became parched. It was unbearable. She longed for a drink of water. But Nu Wo looked toward her children, who were still celebrating and singing. She saw them all watching, encouraging her, smiling and waving. She smiled back and bravely kept on working.
Thanks to Nu Wo’s hard work, the sky was eventually mended and made as beautiful as always. It was impossible to tell where the holes had been, and the waters of the Celestial River ceased to rain down upon the earth.
Nu Wo’s entire body was scorched and achy, and she was dead tired. She felt that if she didn’t sit down and rest, she would collapse. As she
